The youth are hearing the call…

From the first text I received from Katie, I could hear her love for The Lord. Once I met her, I could tell she was “one of them.” I use quotes around “one of them”, because as I meet these young ones, I can see when they have experienced the transforming love and grace of God. It literally shows on their face. They glow. They have a look of hope.

We met at a Starbucks and she described her self through text as, “The tan girl in the dirty work clothes sitting at the high-tops”. She was sitting at the high top tables and although I would not have described her as dirty, she did have the look of someone just off of an adventure. She wore her long beachy brown hair carelessly pulled back, and she sat sipping her water. She was a hugger, so first things first, we hugged and then started chatting up a storm. Not the kind of chatting that belongs to a talkative teen, but the kind where we had so much to share about what God has done, and what He was doing, that we could hardly contain it. I learned all about her journey so far, as a young 19 year old, and once again was left in awe of how God meets these kids right where they are. What I also generally see in their story is someone that would not give up on them. In Katie’s case, it was her parents. In other youth, it has been parents, family members, a friend or sometimes even a perfect stranger that just saw a need and pursued them. I could feel the Holy Spirit’s presence as we talked and as I pieced together all the young adults I have worked with over the last 25 years, I can see how God has gently pulled the listeners back to Him. I say gently, but he does it in RADICALLY gentle ways. Ways where you KNOW it was Him.

God is making Himself known to this generation. He is so real, they cannot deny Him. What I see and what I am hearing from them, is common across the board. They get sucked into the world. They find it does not satisfy and is often quite painful. They have gotten into fights with parents (pride/rebellion), they have gotten into wrong relationships, maybe not bad, but not of God (looking for love), they get involved with drugs and alcohol (needing life to be enhanced), they disconnect from healthy community (hiding from the light) and they forget their value (listen to the deceiver). I just am in awe over the ones found. How, Lord? How and why did these get found and not the others? What can we do? While I will praise over and help the ones He finds, I do not want us to quite fighting for and looking for, the ones that are still lost. Katie was found. I’ve seen many found. But…there are still those out there that the this world is speaking lies to.

A few weeks ago we went up to CRU headquarters in Orlando and ended up in care of a sweet woman who runs the “Jesus movie” tour. As we talked, it came out that she had a 28+ year old son who was lost. Although they had raised him in the faith, he went into the world and got lost. I encouraged her to pray for her son and love him and let God reveal himself to him. With tears in her eyes, she thanked me for the encouragement, said she had been praying along with her long time women’s group, and we parted. My heart grieves. I know the pain. I encounter so many stories like this. Another friend has lost all three of his kids to the world. So much pain from a divorce, the kids looked to the world for what would fill their broken hearts and from drugs, to sex, to money, to cars, to activities, they keep coming up short. Miserable, rebellious, broken and lost, they march through their days without purpose and without feeling entirely valued and loved. Such pain. It’s so hard to watch and listen without offering hope.

Here’s the hope. Keep your ears and eyes open for these young adults. Encourage them and love them. Pursue them. Pray over them. Ask God to bind the things that entangle them. Ask Him to release His vision for their lives to them. Then connect them when the time is right. We have seen God answer these prayers over and over and over. We can no longer doubt that He is with us and moving among us.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31